Alice Lakwena

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Alternative Title:
Alice Auma

Alice Lakwena, (Alice Auma), Ugandan priestess and rebel leader (born 1956?, northern Uganda—died Jan. 17, 2007, Ifo refugee camp, Garissa district, Kenya), was a member of the Acholi ethnolinguistic group and a self-proclaimed mystic who founded the cultlike Holy Spirit Movement (HSM), or Holy Spirit Mobile Forces, which she led in rebellion (1986–87) against Ugandan Pres. Yoweri Museveni. Born Alice Auma, she took the name Lakwena (Acholi for “messenger”), claiming to be channeling a powerful warrior spirit and promising that she could make her poorly armed HSM fighters invulnerable in battle. After the HSM forces were defeated by Museveni’s troops in 1987, Lakwena fled to Kenya. Many of her followers joined the insurgent Lord’s Resistance Army under Joseph Kony, who was reported to be her cousin.